The election result in Thuringia and Saxony, states where the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the Zara Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) registered a rapid rise yesterday Sunday, is causing intense turmoil at the central political level.

At the center of criticism is the governing coalition.

“The earthquake in Thuringia will cause an aftershock in Berlin,” discounted the Handelsblatt newspaper, seeing “dramatic” election results, noting that the situation for the federal government “gets worse with every election” and that state polls will inevitably have consequences on the bottom line. of federal policy.

“According to post-election surveys, the issues of immigration and internal security dominated. If the government wants to regain some of the support it lost after its election in 2021, it will have to deliver in these areas. The election results in Saxony and Thuringia are extreme in the real sense. Federal politicians should not dismiss them as a purely East German phenomenon, but rather take them as a warning and take them seriously,” added the financial paper.

“The election is a big failure for the governing coalition, but also for liberal democracy – the AfD and the BSW won, two parties that have absolutely nothing to do with the liberal point of view,” argued Der Spiegel magazine, adding that election night in two states reflects “the crisis of liberal democracy”. For AfD and BSW voters in particular, a columnist for the magazine noted that “their liberal ideas are unknown” and it would take a long time to win them back to other parties.

“There is no bad election result,” commented Bild, recalling that many opinion polls “had warmed up Germany” for what happened. “This is it and there is no other way (…) A really painful slap. Elections mean competition. Open gatherings. You have to convince people with actions and arguments. If you don’t convince, you have to find fault (…) Elections can never be bad: we shouldn’t be afraid of elections. Unless we don’t do our job properly,” he added.

“The AfD is making history in Thuringia – but not a good one,” the website of the private news channel n-tv emphasizes. “It is the first time since the end of Nazi rule that far-right extremists will again form the largest parliamentary group in the German parliament. And as much as the AfD tries to play it down, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies it as a ‘verified right-wing extremist’ (faction). (Her) leading candidate Bjern Hecke is also the AfD politician whose tone is more reminiscent of the Nazi era,” the comment added.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung saw a “historic victory” for the AfD in Thuringia, while the Süddeutsche Zeitung saw a “serious setback” and a “worrying result for the democrats – and especially for Olaf Scholz”. ZDF spoke of “shock waves in the center parties” in its commentary.

Concern about the consequences of the election result was also expressed by economic operators. The president of the DIW institute Marcel Fratcher predicted an emigration of the workforce from Saxony and Thuringia. Finance Committee Chairwoman Monica Schnitzer warned against political deadlock at the federal level.

For her part, the head of the Jewish Cultural Community of Germany, Charlotte Knobloch, judged that Germany now risks becoming more “unstable”, “cold”, and “poor”.